Healing Gifts Spring 2014 - Advocate Children's Hospital Insert | Page 4
Preventing Children’s Sports injuries
Participation in any sport, whether it’s recreational bike riding or pee-wee football, can teach kids to stretch their limits
and learn sportsmanship and discipline. But sports also carry the potential for injury. You can help prevent your kids from
being injured by following some simple guidelines:
Use of proper equipment
It’s important for kids to use proper equipment and safety
gear that are the correct size and fit well. For example, they
should wear helmets for baseball, softball, bicycle riding,
and hockey. They also should wear helmets while inline
skating or riding scooters and skateboards.
For racquet sports and basketball, ask your child’s coach
about protective eyewear, like shatterproof goggles. Also
ask about the appropriate helmets, shoes, mouth guards,
athletic cups and supporters, and padding.
Protective equipment should be approved by the
organizations that govern each sport. Hockey face masks,
for example, should be approved by the Hockey Equipment
Certification Council (HECC) or the Canadian Standards
Association (CSA). Bicycle helmets should have a safety
certification sticker from the Consumer Product Safety
Commission (CPSC).
Also, equipment should be properly maintained to ensure
its effectiveness over time. In the United States, the National
Operating Committee on Standards for Athletic Equipment
(NOCSAE) sets many of the standards for helmets, face
masks and shin guards.
Maintenance and appropriateness of playing surfaces
Check that playing fields are not full of holes and ruts that
might cause kids to fall or trip. Kids doing high-impact
sports, like basketball and running, should do them on
surfaces like tracks and wooden basketball courts, which
can be more forgiving than surfaces like concrete.
The team coach should have training in first aid and
CPR, and the coach’s philosophy should promote players’
well-being. A coach with a win-at-all-costs attitude may
encourage kids to play through injury and may not foster
good sportsmanship. Be sure that the coach enforces
playing rules and requires that safety equipment be used
at all times.
Additionally, make sure your kids are matched for sports
according to their skill level, size, and physical and
emotional maturity.
Proper preparation
Just as you wouldn’t send a child who can’t swim to a
swimming pool, it’s important not to send kids to play a
sport they’re unprepared to play. Make sure your child
knows how to play the sport before going out on the field.
Your child should be adequately prepared with warm-ups
and training sessions before practices, as well as before
games. This will help ensure that your child has fun and
reduce the chances of an injury.
In addition, kids should drink plenty of fluids and be
allowed to rest during practices and games.
© 2014. The Nemours Foundati on/KidsHealth®. Used under liscense.
This is an abridged version. For the full article, visit
advocatechildrenshospital.com.
Adequate adult supervision and commitment to safety
Any team sport or activity that kids participate in should
be supervised by qualified adults. Select leagues and
teams that have the same commitment to safety and injury
prevention that you do.
KID-Focused Care
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Sarah Cutrara at 708.684.5231 (Oak Lawn) or Mary Kozil at 847.723.8144 (Park Ridge)